Jim Lowe

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Jim Lowe (born May 7, 1923 in Springfield , Missouri , † December 12, 2016 in East Hampton , New York ) was an American disc jockey who briefly played the number one hit The Green Door ( 1956) was also known as a pop singer . In Germany, the country hit Gambler’s Guitar, composed by him, became a number one hit as Der lachende Vagabund in the German version by Fred Bertelmann .

Life

Gambler's Guitar , 1953
Maybellene , 1955

After studying at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Lowe worked as a disc jockey from 1948, first in Indianapolis , then in Chicago . He got a contract as a singer with Mercury Records and wrote country and western songs, which he recorded himself. One of these songs was Gambler's Guitar , which he himself released as a single in May 1953 . His label colleague Rusty Draper covered Gambler's Guitar and released the song as a single on the same label in the same month. Draper's version went to number six on the country and pop charts and sold more than a million copies, while Lowe's version had to be content with position 26. In German-speaking countries, Gambler's Guitar was , however, more than four years later, as Der lachende Vagabund in a version by Fred Bertelmann, also a million dollar hit; the German was even able to sell more than 300,000 singles of his cover of Lowe's song in the USA . The Belgian Bobbejaan brought a version in Dutch ("De Lachende Vagebond") into the charts , also in 1958 .

Shortly after the initial success of Gambler's Guitar, Lowe moved to New York City , where he got a job as a DJ at another broadcaster. In 1955 he changed the record company and signed a contract with Dot Records . Here he released the novelty song Close the Door (They're Coming in the Windows) , which also hit the pop charts . From 1955 he began to record more and more rock 'n' roll songs and his next single was a cover version of Chuck Berry's Maybelline , which did not make it into the pop charts, but was able to place on Billboard's rhythm and blues charts . This was followed by more covers of Blue Suede Shoes (1956), originally a hit by Carl Perkins , and Roc-a-Chicka (1957) by Warner Mack .

In 1956 he recorded another novelty song, The Green Door , written by composer Bob Davie with lyricist Marvin Moore . Davie (at the piano) and his band played the music for Lowe's vocals, The High Fives provided the backing vocals . On November 3, the song captured number one position in the Top 100 list on the Billboard charts. More than 2,500,000 copies of the single were sold. In Great Britain too , Jim Lowe & the High Fives made it into the top 10 with The Green Door ; The bigger success was a cover version by Frankie Vaughan , which came up to number 2. It wasn't until 1981 that the song came to number one in the UK - in a new recording by Shakin 'Stevens .

Lowe had another hit, Talkin 'to the Blues , in the Top Twenty and released two albums on Dot. But he “knew I couldn't actually sing,” as he confessed in an interview in 1971. He concentrated on his radio career from the late 1950s. In 1962 he hosted the Saturday night Monitor on NBC Radio ; he joined WNEW-AM the following year, where he hosted Milkman's Matinee and Jim Lowe's New York programs . In these shows, he asked quiz questions that earned him the nickname King of Trivia ("King of Trivial Knowledge ").

From 1969 to 1973 he was again with Monitor at NBC, then he went back to WNEW-AM. Here he became program director in 1982; During this time the station changed its program from Adult Contemporary to a continuous repertoire of big band sound , pop standards and jazz . In 1992 WNEW-AM was sold to Bloomberg and the music program was discontinued. From 1996 to 1999 Lowe was at the station WVNJ in Oakland (New Jersey) , then again from New York to present his shows Jim Lowe and Company and Jim Lowe and Friends for various cable radio stations . He was considered an expert on pop music of the 1940s and 1950s. In 2004 he retired into private life.

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1957 Songs They Sing Behind the Green Door - - - - -
The Door of Fame - - - - -
1958 Wicked Woman - - - - -

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Singles

year Title
album
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1956 I Feel The Beat
By You, By You, By You
- - - - US84 (3 weeks)
US
The Green Door
(The Story of) The Little Man in Chinatown
DE19 (4 weeks)
DE
- - UK8 (9 weeks)
UK
US1 (26 weeks)
US
1957 Four Walls
Talkin 'to the Blues
- - - - US20 (18 weeks)
US

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More singles

  • 1953: Gambler's Guitar (The Martins and the Coys)
  • 1954: Pretty Fickle Darlin ' (Go and Leave Me)
  • 1954: River Boat (Goodbye Little Sweetheart)
  • 1955: Maybellene (René La Rue)
  • 1955: St James Avenue (John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith)
  • 1955: Close the Door (Nuevo Laredo)
  • 1956: Blue Suede Shoes ((Love Is) The $ 64,000 Question)
  • 1957: Rock-A-Chicka (The Bright Light)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Steve Grant: Famous radio host, native Springfieldian, Jim Lowe dies at age 93 . KY3 , December 12, 2016, accessed December 13, 2016.
  2. ^ "He recorded his first million-seller in 1953. It was 'Gambler's Guitar,' which reached No. 6 on the pop and country charts. "In Rusty Draper, Singer of Country and Pop Hits, Dies at 80 . In: New York Times , April 3, 2003, AP obituary
  3. "In June, Draper released 'Gambler's Guitar,' and everything clicked - the record sold over a million copies and not only reached the country Top Ten, but also cracked the pop charts." In: Rusty Draper History  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at daz.com , accessed September 25, 2007@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / daz.com  
  4. "Both received airplay in Chicago, but 'Gambler's Guitar' was covered by established singer Rusty Draper, making # 6 and relegating Lowe's original to a # 26 showing." In: Randy Wood: The Dot Records Story , accessed September 25, 2007.
  5. ^ Rainer Nitschke: Rainer's reference: Fred Bertelmann , from April 30, 2003, on SWR4
  6. ^ Collective picture at Bubblegum-Cards.com , accessed September 25, 2007
  7. “… he admitted in a 1971 Press interview, 'I knew I couldn't really sing.'” Who's Who in Ridgefield CT . Retrieved September 25, 2007
  8. BrainyHistory about Jim Lowe, accessed 24 September 2007
  9. 440.com ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 25, 2007  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.440.com
  10. https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/364539-Jim-Lowe-2?filter_anv=0&subtype=Albums&type=Releases
  11. http://wwws.chartsurfer.de/artist/jim-lowe/songs-fpucn.html
  12. https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/364539-Jim-Lowe-2?filter_anv=0&subtype=Singles-EPs&type=Releases